It Will Be Very Painful, For You
by theslowknife
Summary: Bane is rescued from the Pit by the League of Shadows and his now-grown ward, Talia. Explains how Bane's mask works and develops Bane and Talia's relationship. R
1. Chapter 1

It Will Be Very Painful, For You

Prologue

He still didn't regret it. Even though he suffered for it, now and then, he would never, never regret saving her.

Despite his deformed face making it close to impossible to breathe. Despite the plague ravaging his body, burning through him. Despite the repeated attempts on his life when she was in the Pit and the savage abuse he suffered now. Despite the constant, nagging knowledge that he was still in _here_ while she was up _there_ in the light. The light that had previously meant nothing to him. When he was weak and delirious, she and the light were the same thing. Either way he looked at it, the light was gone.

Despite the torments from his body, his mind and the other inmates, he would contentedly endure if it meant she was safe, that she had a chance to survive.

The image of her running through the bright light away from the Pit- away from Hell itself- was all that kept him sane.

In his mind, he ran with her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

"Bane. _Bane."_

He forced himself to focus. The old image of her running away played in his mind, more vivid than ever. Suddenly the light grew brighter and brighter. He woke.

His limbs felt heavy and his mind slow. As his vision cleared, he saw a pair of large grey eyes, wider still with alarm. He concentrated, and saw the eyes were set in an a heart-shaped face framed with dark hair. Hair that was not there when he saw her last.

"Talia. No... cannot be Talia. Talia is a child."

A small smile crossed her face. "Talia is no longer a child. I am Talia, Bane. We are here to take you away." Her expression clouded again as her eyebrows pulled together. "My God, what did they do to your face, old friend?"

Bane struggled to explain through the searing agony. "Whe-when you...you climbed, I was overcome and...well, I will spare you the details."

Tears clouded the great grey eyes. "You are sick, Bane. Very sick. We will help you."

Bane felt consciousness slipping away. Before he blacked out, he managed to say "Who is _we?_"

Talia stood outside the great hall for what felt like decades. Her father had not looked her in the face since they had climbed out of the Pit. In spite of his weakness and ill treatment, Bane was still a very large man and it had taken three men to hoist his unconscious form up out of the Pit. Talia had insisted on staying with Bane despite the inconvenience and her father's objections. No-one had ever stood up to Ra's Al Ghul before, least of all a child of his. Least of all a _woman._

He gave in after they stood there for fifteen minutes arguing. The panic and desperation in Talia's voice had worn him down, and the expression on his face as he looked at her mingled pity, revulsion and self-loathing. Since then, he had not addressed Talia unless strictly necessary, had avoided her company and if he did have to address her, spoke to a spot above her head.

Talia resumed pacing outside the great wooden doors of the League's great hall. Her frustration was building and she felt helpless. An unnatural hush had descended over the Headquarters. Strangers were rare, and doctors rarer. All sorts of apparatus had been installed in the great hall, clinical and harsh against the darkness of the home of the aptly named League of Shadows.

This had gone on for several days now. Doctors came and went, but still the muffled moans of agony continued to leak from behind the solid old doors. Today had been different.

A man with a suit and a briefcase had arrived four days earlier, with several doctors in tow. He had met with Talia's father in his room, away from the hall. Talia had asked to be included, but had been denied to her surprise. This time, her attempts to persuade her father had not worked. The man with the briefcase had left, but the doctors remained behind.

Today, the man returned. This time, he had a much larger bag, a silver metal case with enough room in it to fit a human head. The doctor had paused next to Talia on his way into the great hall.

"You are this man's friend, correct?" he said. He had a clipped voice with a slight French accent.

"Yes. He saved my life."

"And now you return the favour. Your father was not forthcoming with how he came to be in such a terrible state."

"Perhaps I shall tell you then. How do you intend to help him?"

"By repairing some of the colossal damage to his face, which his fever has not helped. It is impossible to completely repair, but I have something which will stop him from being in agony. It is the very latest in medical technology and this is the first of its kind in the world."

"What is it?" Talia asked, her curiosity and hope piqued.

"Your father has forbidden me to tell you until the operation is complete. I understand that you have been told nothing about your friend's condition, else you would not be sat here day after day like a guard dog."

"No. No, I have not. Nor have I been allowed to see him."

The man's harsh green eyes softened. "I will tell you after I have helped your friend, then. Rest assured, his pain is nearly over."

Talia got up and climbed the stairs to her father's room, the highest room in the building. She knocked twice on his door, two loud short raps.

"Enter."

Talia opened the door. The room was dimly lit and full of wooden furniture. The only light came from candles and a small oil lamp on her father's desk. On the furthest wall was a small balcony overlooking the Himalayan mountains.

"Father, I must speak with you."

Ra's Al Ghul looked up from the small table where he sat. His face was weary and reproach filled his eyes as he heard Talia's voice.

"Talia." The single word weighed heavily in the air.

"Father, this has gone on long enough. What will happen to us?"

"Sit down, Talia."

Talia reluctantly sat in one of the low couches opposite her father. "I owe that man my life. I must know, Father. Why will you not allow me to see Bane? How is he?"

"He is over his fever."

"And his face? Who is that man?"

"I have consented to allow him to tell you everything when he is finished. That will take hours. Please, Talia, be patient."

"I cannot wait much longer, I am so worrie-" She stopped as Ra's Al Ghul cut her off.

"Do you know exactly how you came to be raised in the Pit?" He looked her in the eyes, finally.

"No, my mother told me very little. She only told me your name and where to find you, in the event that I ever escaped. She always reassured me that I was born from love and that you loved us both."

"It is time I told you. You have been with us for months now and I could never bring myself to tell you the whole truth, but now I see you at risk of suffering what I have suffered and I could never allow something so cruel to happen to a child of mine."

Talia grew more confused as she entertained various possibilities in her mind. Before she could speak, Ra's Al Ghul continued.

"You see, Talia, about seventeen years ago I worked as a mercenary. I went to Mongolia at the summons of a very rich warlord. He summoned me to kill a man, a rich man who had refused to marry his daughter for someone else. This had greatly displeased the warlord. I agreed to kill the man for a very large sum of money, the most I'd ever made.

I killed him, and the warlord threw a banquet in my honour. After we feasted and drank, the warlord summoned his daughter, Sora, to dance for us. She was mesmerising. The warlord took my fascination as a compliment. "Too good for him, yes?" he said. "Too good for him anyway. Much too good." I nodded, never taking my eyes off her.

That night, I took a walk around the warlord's house to find Sora's quarters. I slipped a note under the door asking her to meet me. Despite the strict watch she was under, she managed to meet me late that night. Sora was your mother."

Ra's Al Ghul paused, an expression of deep pain on his face, then continued. "We continued to meet and I fell further in love with her. I asked her to marry me and she refused at first, knowing her father would never allow her to marry a mercenary, even if it was me. So we married in secret and consummated our marriage in the room I was renting. She snuck back to her room in her father's house at the crack of dawn. You were conceived that night, Talia.

"Two days later, her father found out. One of his servants had been running an errand the night we married and saw us together. His immediate decree was that I be confined to the Pit- which was infamous even then- and Sora exiled. However, when I was taken away, I was not thrown in the Pit but the next country. It was then that I realised that Sora had taken my place.

"You look just like her, Talia. It shames me that my wife was exiled into that hell, but shames me further that an innocent child was raised there. _My_ child. This is my great shame, that I allowed this to happen, that I allowed my family to suffer. I am refusing to allow you to see Bane because I am doing all that I can to ensure that you do not lose what I have lost. If you so wish, Talia, you and Bane can train with us, the League of Shadows. "

Talia found her voice at long last. "I will consider it, Father. I-I will leave you now."

She got up and left, her thoughts a blur.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Talia resumed her vigil outside the great hall, trying to consume what her father had told her. Her concern for Bane was warring with her shock at the true nature of her family history.

Her mother had never been forthcoming about her past and always deflected Talia's questions, but had drummed into Talia where her father was and where to find him. It had surprised Talia that her mother knew, but perhaps the warlord had told Talia's mother to punish her with hope. Hope was a dangerous commodity in the Pit.

Bane woke with a start. Bright lights were above him, blinding him to the features of the room. He took a breath and was surprised to find that his face was no longer in searing agony. In fact, he felt remarkably healthy. A suited man with piercing green eyes appeared above him.

"Please do not move." The man said. "How do you feel?"

"I feel...well." Bane noticed that his voice sounded somewhat processed and it was only then that he felt the presence of a cool metal...thing on his face. He raised his hand to touch it."What is this?"

The man heaved a sigh. "This holds your face together, essentially. The bones were so badly damaged that they were cutting into your facial muscles as you were breathing. Eventually, the muscles went into atrophy. This is why you were in so much pain. Unfortunately the muscles could not be spared, nor the bones in some places. This mask allows you to breathe and smell normally again. Your voice is different because there was extensive damage sustained to the vocal chords as well so I have modified the mask to allow you to speak normally, too."

Bane ran his hand over the mask. "How am I to _eat?_"

The man approached him and motioned for Bane to sit up. The man held up a large mirror in front of Bane. The mask looked rather like Bane had a large metal spider ingrained into his face, held on with thick leather straps. The man placed a finger under the mouthpiece of Bane's mask and lifted it up, revealing a hole where Bane's mouth was. "You eat by lifting this part up. You can still chew and eat normally. There was no damage to the oesophagus, thankfully." The doctor reconnected the mouthpiece to the mask, which closed with a slight hiss.

"Lie down again, please. You are still not entirely recovered and moving too much will risk tearing the stitches in your back."

"My back?"

The man looked apprehensive at this point. "This mask is also connected into your nervous system in order to stop the pain to your face. It confuses the electrical signals to the brain. You still have full use of your body but as long as these"- he tapped the small pipe-like structures of the mask- "are connected, you will not experience pain to your face again."

Bane looked again in the mirror. He saw a monster. An outward reflection of his inward self.

He felt rage.

Talia started as the door opened. The man with the green eyes emerged looking relieved. Talia waited for the man to speak.

"He is fine. Still weak, but he will fully recover."

"May I see him?" Talia asked, shakily.

"No," The man replied. "Not yet. He has been sedated again. He had a...negative reaction when he saw his reflection so for his own safety and mine, I sedated him. I think it will be a good idea for you to be there when he wakes."

"How long will that be?"

"About an hour." The man replied grimly.

"Will you tell me what has happened now?"

"Yes." The man seated himself next to Talia. He opened his bag and withdrew three sketches. He handed Talia the first one. She examined it closely and eventually the doctor spoke. "This is the front view of the mask I designed. It covers the areas that were most heavily damaged. " He motioned to the thick bands around the jawline. "His jaw was broken in three places, so this holds his jaw together while allowing normal movement. I had to remove the majority of the bone from his nose because it could not be put back together at all, even with metal plates. There was heavy damage sustained to his olfactory glands and vocal chords so this mask simulates the function of both. He can smell and talk somewhat normally. He can eat with relative normality by lifting the mouthpiece of his mask." He took the first sketch from a thunderstruck Talia and handed her the second. This one was a side view. As before, she analysed every detail.

"These pipes around the nose and mouth offset the pain from his injuries. There are small wires in the bands around the head and jaw that interrupt the electrical signals from the brain. This was the most difficult part of the operation as I had to connect these wires from the mask into his brainstem and feed them partway down his spinal cord." He took that sketch and replaced it with the final one, a back view of the thick bands connecting around Bane's head. "This is where the wires meet and connect to his brain. This mask can never be removed."

Talia buried her head in her hands as she considered what this meant, overcome with shame and guilt. Her oldest and only friend had suffered years of abuse to save her life and now he was disfigured, able only to function with a huge, ugly mask to stop his agony. He had defended her from several attempts on her life and protected her from the violent advances of the men in the Pit, and this was his reward.

The man spoke again. "This is hard, but he is no longer suffering. You have saved him."

Talia's face grew hard. "Salvation indeed. How long before he wakes?

The man examined a large silver watch. "Ten minutes."

"I wish to see him before he wakes." Talia wanted to see the mask for herself, to get used to it before Bane had to see the horror in her eyes and think it was because of how he looked.

"Very well." The man said reluctantly.

The pair rose together and went into the harshly lit hall, where steel and bright light looked so out of place compared with the dark wooden interior. Talia approached the low metal cot where Bane lay. His short sandy hair had been shaved off completely. His eyes were closed, long lashes almost touching his cheek. The harsh black mask interrupted the pale skin of his face. His breathing had a guttural sound as air passed steadily through the mask. The fever had made Bane thinner, although he was still half a head taller than every man in the League and still bigger than most. Talia almost wept to see him.

His face had been handsome, with high cheekbones and full lips. His nose had suffered an obvious break, but this had added character to his face. Talia had asked several times as a child how Bane had broken his nose. Every time he smiled ruefully and told her it had been an accident. His face had made him look human on top of his brutally muscled body, with huge hands, broad shoulders and towering height. Talia suspected she may have been the only person in the Pit brave enough to look Bane in the face. Now, everything she loved about his face was gone, destroyed and now hidden behind a black metal mask.

Except his eyes. Which were now open and staring at her balefully.

"Bane." She whispered.

"Talia." He answered her, sounding somewhat sarcastic. She placed her hand on his head and stroked it with her thumb.

"How do you feel?" she asked tentatively.

"Rather...numb, if truth be told. I-I am glad to see you."

"You too, old friend. You are safe now." Talia's eyes filled with tears.

"You are much different. Last time, it was I saving your life and not the other way around." Bane said darkly. Talia dropped her eyes, stung. Shame filled her again.

"I am sorry for what you have suffered because of me, Bane. I am so so sorry." She looked down as tears blurred her vision. Fat, salty tears began to drop onto the floor. She withdrew her hand from Bane's head.

Bane was unused to giving affection of any kind. He had never been given any kind of affection by anyone but Talia. He reached out and took her hand in his much larger, clumsy hand.

"Talia."

She looked up, the corners of her mouth turned down and eyes filled with misery.

"I am not sorry. So you do not need to be either."

Talia squeezed his fingers. "You should rest, Bane."

At that, she let go of his hand and left the room, the man with the suit following her. Talia had grown into all the potential he saw in her as a child. Her unforgiving, short hair had grown into a dark, glossy mane. Her eyes, large and expressive since childhood were now ringed in thick black lashes. She was lovely and he was a monster, a reminder of her past following her like a ghoul.

She was the only thing that had brought out the good in him; his pity, his protection and his unwavering loyalty. He looked back to the mirror.

_It's true what they say_, he thought._ No good deed goes unpunished._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Over the next few weeks, Bane grew stronger. He began to come to terms with the mask, to accept it as part of himself. He began to see it as a perversly ugly symbol of the only good he'd done in his life.

In the meantime, Talia's training began as Bane recovered. She visited him twice a day, sometimes more, to talk animatedly about how strong she was becoming, how her fighting was progressing and how she could make herself invisible. Bane listened to these stories with a reluctant admiration; she would likely never need his protection again, although he had problems visualising the twelve-year-old girl he had saved as a ruthless fighter.

"I cannot wait for your training to start, Bane." Talia said excitedly one day. "Father says we can train together."

"_My _training?"

Talia looked confused at this. "Of course, Bane. Father has agreed to accept us into the League of Shadows."

Bane's heart lifted. He had never been part of anything before, never accepted. He had always been feared because of his huge size and the closest he'd ever come to friendship or camaraderie was being spoken to in a deferential tone for fear of a beating. This also meant he would spend more time with Talia, but he refused to admit that was another source of happiness.

He continued to listen to her stories of training over the next few days with a growing interest.

Until one day, she came in to see him with a black eye.

"_Who did that to your face?"_ Bane managed through a choking sensation in his throat. He was able to walk now and began to pace around the room.

"A training injury, Bane. I was careless and did not defend myself properly." Talia said gently.

The idea of someone- a_ man_- hitting Talia because her guard was down inspired a searing rage in Bane. He needed to find the man who dared to touch her, to _choke _the life out of him until he was limp and lifeless. He picked up the low metal cot and flung it into the wall above Talia's head where it crumpled with a deafening crash. She did not even flinch. She had seen Bane in these fits of temper before, when prisoners of the Pit would describe to him in detail what they would do to Talia if they ever got to her. The prisoners in question usually ended up with their back broken in several places but here, that was not likely. Bane relied on brute force to fight; the members of the League were fast and highly trained, not thugs.

_"Who did that, Talia?" _Bane bellowed.

"I did." Ra's Al Ghul stood in the doorway. Neither Talia nor Bane had heard him enter.

Bane faced Ra's Al Ghul. "Is it considered acceptable by the League to injure defenceless girls?"

Ra's smiled, a thin cruel smile. "It is acceptable for members of the League to be able to defend themselves and be prepared to be injured if they do not. League members must also _mind their surroundings._"

A huge impact knocked Bane across the floor. He just about managed to get to his feet before a well-placed kick to the chin snapped his head back, knocking him sprawling once again. Again, Bane jumped up, this time on his guard.

Ra's Al Ghul had not moved from the doorway. Bane turned until he was certain no-one else was in the room but himself and Ra's Al Ghul.

_Where was Talia?_

No sooner had he remembered Talia than he heard a small rushing sound from above him and felt a forceful kick to his chest, putting him flat on his back. A black-clothed weight landed on him, pinning him down. He prepared to throw it off but a cold, sharp blade at his throat made him hesitate.

He saw now, the weight was a person. A familiar chuckle emanated from the folds of the person's mask.

Talia pulled her mask off and leaned forward, still with the blade at his throat. "_Mind your surroundings._" she whispered.

Neither of them made any effort to move. Bane did not resist Talia and Talia did not take the knife from his throat. Talia's face was still an inch above Bane's and she was still straddling him when Ra's Al Ghul cleared his throat forcefully.

"You've made your point, Talia."

Talia jumped up and stood next to Bane who clambered to his feet, wincing.

"Talia has indeed demonstrated that she is not defenceless. I think it is time for your training to begin, Bane."

Ra's Al Ghul turned on his heel and left the hall. Talia prodded Bane to follow him. The pair followed Ra's Al Ghul up several flights of stairs.

Bane stopped. He could only hear his own footsteps. He looked around him. He was in a large, dark room with several large cupboards around it. The hairs on the back of his neck pricked up.

Ra's Al Ghul's voice echoed around the room. "Training to become one of the League of Shadows is difficult. You will need to master your body, conquer your senses and channel your anger."

At this, several of the League jumped forward and surrounded Bane. Ra's Al Ghul continued.

"You will learn to master your fear."

"I fear nothing." Bane spoke into the darkness.

"You have never had to fear before; you were always the object of other people's fear. You manipulated this. You used it against them. You are surrounded by better trained men who could easily take your life."

"I do not fear death."

"You do not fear your own death."

One of the masked men wrapped his arm around the neck of the man in front of him. The man's mask was pulled off to reveal that the man was not a man but indeed Talia.

The man behind her tightened his grip.

"Do you fear _hers?_"

A rising sense of panic overrode the logic that Ra's Al Ghul would never allow any real harm to befall his daughter. Bane tried to rush the man but was immediately held back by the men on either side of him.

"Everyone fears something. This is a novelty for you, Bane, which only makes it harder for you to conquer your fear."

As though some unspoken signal had been given, Talia was released and the men faded back into the darkness.

"Your training will begin in full tomorrow. As you are clearly well and we do need our hall back, you have a room in Talia's quarters."

Talia did not meet Bane's eyes as she walked around him and left the room. Bane turned to follow.

They did not speak for several hours, until they sat in the small communal room in Talia's quarters. Talia was seated on the floor crosslegged in front of Bane. She leaned back against Bane's chair, gazing into the fire. He reached out and touched her hair, gently burying his thick fingers in it. She rubbed her head against his hand like a cat as he began to stroke her hair.

"Why do they call you Bane?" she asked suddenly.

Bane chuckled, a low harsh sound through his mask. He was used to her springing random questions on him from when she was a child, such as "How was your nose broken?" and "Why are you so big?"

The latter question had made him roar with laughter. They had been sitting in their cell in relative silence; Bane was thinking and Talia was mending her tunic. Quite out of the blue, as Bane was rather morbidly pondering what would happen to Talia if he died in the Pit and she did not escape, Talia innocently asked, "Bane, why are you so _big_?"

The genuine curiosity over such a trivial matter had tickled Bane. He laughed until his colossal sides hurt and tears rolled down his face. What had made it funnier was that Talia sat on the bed watching him with an expression of utter confusion, still expecting an answer.

In the end, he answered that it was simply how he was made.

Now, the soft seriousness in Talia's voice did nothing to make him laugh.

"I will have to start at the very beginning to answer that. A long time before we met. I grew up in England, born to a very wealthy family. I did not fit in with them; I spoke my mind and had little respect for academic studies. I did not learn the necessary airs and graces to function in the upper class of England and I was a constant source of aggravation and embarrassment to my family. After a particularly disastrous dinner party, my mother lost her temper with me and sent me from the house, shouting "You are the bane of my life and the bane of this family!" From there, the name stuck and after I left England, that was what I called myself."

Talia snorted. "She sounds delightful."

"It is a true privilege to share blood with her, I assure you." Bane replied grimly.

Talia laughed at that, a deep feminine chuckle. "A dubious honour. It is late, and we should sleep. Your room is on the left, Bane. Goodnight." She got up and left. Bane remained in front of the fire a while longer. After replaying muddled thoughts over and over again in his mind, he decided to retire.

Bane woke with a start. After years in the Pit he was a light sleeper, quick to wake at any noise. He looked to the door of his room, which was slightly ajar. Not how he left it.

A pressure on the left side of his bed made him jump. A dark shape lay down next to him. A slight body. Soft hair brushing against his arm. A familiar smell.

_Talia._

Bane put his arm around her and pulled her into his side. The tension in Talia's body eased as she laid her head on his chest.

"I am still unaccustomed to sleeping alone." Talia whispered.

Bane grunted in response. They slept.


End file.
